Apparatus for changing the position of wire or strip coils and similar bodies



Oct. 19, 1965 o MODDER 3,212,619

APPARATUS FOR CHANGING THE POSITION OF WIRE OR STRIP COILS AND SIMILAR BODIES Filed July 15, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 i 5 E a '11 I I i E i i l 1 m E l INVENTOR OTTO Mb'ooER "7A @7244; HIS TTORNEY 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG) IN VEN TOR 01-1-0 MbuoER ATTORNEY HIS B r w I \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\k W W \\\\\V\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Oct. 19, 1965 APPARATUS FOR CHANGING THE POSITION OF WIRE OR STRIP COILS AND SIMILAR BODIES Filed July 15, 1965 United States Patent l 3,212,619 APPARATUS FOR CHANGING THE POSITION 0F WIRE 0R STRIP COILS AND SIMILAR BODIES Otto Miidder, Dahlbruch, Westphalia, Germany, assignor to Siegener Maschinenbau G.m.b.H., a corporation of Germany Filed July 15, 1963, Ser. No. 294,913 Claims priority, application Germany, July 16, 1962, 80,425 3 Claims. (Cl. 198-25) The invention relates to an apparatus for changing wire or strip coils and similar bodies from an upright position to a horizontal position or inversely in the course of their travel on conveyor belts, roller tables or similar conveying machinery.

In rod and strip mills the rolled stock delivered from the final stand is reeled into so-called coils when still hot. These coils of wire or strip, after they have reached a certain weight, are removed from the coiler and by a special auxiliary device deposited on a conveyor belt, roller table or similar conveying machinery in such a manner that the coil axis is at right angles to the conveying plane. Placing the coils on end is necessary, as otherwise the coils will be deformed by reason of the considerable amount of heat still contained in the rolled stock and in that case it will be possible only under great difficulties to bring them to another coiler for further processing. With the Wire and strip coils placed on end they are moved with the aid of the conveying system long enough, until the coils have cooled off sufficiently, thereby eliminating the risk of deformation. For further processing of the coils it will be necessary to bring them again into a horizontal position in relation to their longitudinal axis. For that purpose the coils travel in the familiar way on the conveying machinery to a coil tilting table, which seizes each individual coil from below, turns it over by a 90. angle after which the table is, in the opposite direction of travel, returned to its starting position to make room for the next coil. The drawback with these coil tilting tables consists of the fact that each one of the coils to be tilted can be brought into its end position through the tilting table only after the latter has returned to its starting position. Under these conditions the operating speed of the known coil tilting tables is relatively low and they can no longer meet the demands of modern mill operation with its high-working speeds and, consequently, more rapid coil delivery. Nor is it desirable, in view of the considerable expenditure and the required space, to assign to each individual coiler a separate coil conveying plant with coil tilting table.

The object of the invention is with the aid of only one conveying plant to so accelerate the conveying speed and particularly the changing of the coils from their upright position to a horizontal position or inversely, that no disturbances can be caused by reason of the short succession of coils resulting from the modern mill operation. Accordingly, the invention is based on the problem of creating an apparatus for changing wire or strip coils and similar bodies from an upright position to a horizontal position or inversely, which already at the moment the change-over of the one coil occurs, is ready to receive the next coil. According to the invention the solution of this problem consists essentially of the fact that several radial arms are star-connected in relation to one another to a common rotating body and by means of the latter, with constant direction of rotation, for the coil take-over, they can be placed parallelly below the conveying plane of the feeding device, and for the coil discharge, they can be swung upwardly into a vertical position in relation to the conveying plane of the delivery conveying device. With the use of such an apparatus in combination with 3,212,619 Patented Oct. 19, 1965 conveyor belts performing the feed and delivery of the coils, it is of special advantage according to the invention that on the shaft carrying the rotating body the deflector wheels of the conveyor belts are freely movably mounted. In this case it is furthermore appropriate for each one of the radial arms to be formed by two or more cheeks (or side plates) arranged with spacing next to one another, and for the end of one of the conveyor belts, preferably that of the feeder belt, to be positioned laterally outside the cheeks, whereas the end of the other conveyor belt, purposely that of the discharge conveyor belt, is in the zone between these cheeks (or side plates). In this case the working zone of the two conveying plants practically overlap, which guarantees at all times a sure feed and delivery of the coils. Through a longitudinally shiftable arrangement of one or also several of the radial arms on the rotating body, the possibility would be given to carry out the coil transport with the aid of the conveying plant also while the change-over apparatus is not being used. In that case, namely, the radial arm normally extending into the path of travel could be withdrawn, thereby freeing the passage of the coils.

Finally, it turned out to be especially appropriate for the operation of the change-over apparatus to form each one of the cheeks forming the radial arms by a plate wide enough in proportion to its thickness to taper the cheeks down backwardly at their free end in relation to the rotational direction of the rotating body. In this way the radial arm effecting the turning of a coil comes in the course of its rotation gradually out of the feed zone of the feed conveyor, so that also with the coils succeeding each other in short order, the next following coil is effectively prevented from striking the radial arm.

The drawing illustrates an embodiment of the coil conveying plant with built-in coil change-over device of which:

FIGURE 1 illustrates a coil conveying plant in work connection with a coil change-over device in side elevation, and

FIGURE 2 illustrates a vertical sectional view taken along the plane of line II-II.

The coil conveying plant represented in the drawing consists of a feed conveyor belt 1 and a delivery conveyor belt 2. The feed conveyor belt 1 consists, as is clearly shown, especially in FIGURE 2, of two fully identical plate conveyor belts 3 and 4 arranged next to one another, running synchronously. The delivery conveyor belt 2, on the other hand, is developed as a trough conveyor belt. The belt deflector rolls 5 and 6 at the rear end of the feed conveyor belt 1 and the deflector roll 7 at the front end of the delivery conveyor belt 2 are arranged freely movable on a common shaft 8 which in turn is pivotally mounted on two stationary bearing blocks 9 and 10. The deflector roll 7 of the delivery conveyor belt 2 is seated on the shaft 8 between the deflector rolls 5 and 6 for the feed conveyor belt 1 and in such a manner that the front end of the delivery conveyor belt 2 is between the rear ends of the two plate conveyor belts 3 and 4 of the feeder belt 1 and thereby the working zones of the two conveyor belts 1 and 2 pass directly into one another.

Keyed to the shaft 8-which for instance, under interposition of a coupling 11, can be driven from a motor (not shown)is a rotating body 12, in the present case designed as a hub, that carries radial arms 13 arranged star-shaped in relation to one another. Each of the radial arms 13 consists of two cheeks or blades 14 arranged next to, and at a distance from one another, which are so mounted on the rotating body 12 that with each turning of the shaft 8 they can pass unobstructed through clearances between the trough conveyor belt 2 and the plate conveyor belts 3 and 4. According to FIGURE 1 there are arranged on the rotating body 12, e.g. four (4) radial arms 13 staggered by 90 in relation to one another, each of which has a length corresponding somewhat to the largest occurring coil diameter.

Normally, the shaft 8 is always in such a rotary position that one of the radial arms 13 is directed parallelly to the conveying plane of the feed conveyor belt 1 and with its upper lateral face is slightly below this conveying plane. The coils brought up one after another on the feed conveyor belt 1, in this case coils of rolled strip, are thereby brought into the zone above this radial arrn. As soon as the relative coil 15 has been brought far enough above this radial arm 13, the drive of the shaft 8 is engaged for rotation in the direction of the arrow, eg, through a push switch actuated by the coil 15. Thereby the arriving upright coil 15 is lifted off by the feed conveyor belt 1 and as a result of the further turning of the shaft, it is tilted until the strip coil, striking upon the delivery conveyor belt 2, assumes the position indicated by 15a, in which the coil axis is directed parallelly to the conveying plane of the delivery conveyor belt 2. At this moment the drive of the shaft 8 is interrupted, which can also be effected by a push switch, whereby the next radial arm 13 stays in the parallel position below the conveying plane of the feed conveyor belt 1 and is ready to receive the next coil of strip 15. The strip coils can thus be brought up in an uninterrupted and close sequence to the feed conveyor belt 1, without any stagnation occurring by reason of the change-over of the coils 15, 15a.

In order to be able to manage with a possibly small clearance between the conveyor belts for the passage of the arms 13, the cheeks (or blades) forming the latter are designed broad in proportion to their thickness, in order to give them the required strength. To keep a succeeding coil 15 from striking the radial arms 13 during their turning above the conveying plane of the feed conveyor belt 1, the free ends of the cheeks 14 are tapered down backwardly in relation to the rotating direction of the shaft 8, so that the turning circle of the radial arms 13 in relation to the feed conveyor belt 1 is reduced. The succeeding coil 15 is thereby given enough space for its further travel. The change-over motion of each strip coil is released in the already described manner. It may turn out to be advisable to have the delivery conveyor belt 2 run slightly faster than the feed conveyor belt 1, in order to make sure in each case that the coil 15a tilted last has moved out of the turning zone of the radial arm back of it by a distance that makes possible the free turning of this arm 13.

If provision is made to use the coil conveying plant also without putting the change-over device into operation, it may be advantageous if at least one of the radial arms 13 is developed longitudinally shiftable in relation to the rotating body 12 and can be moved in far enough so that it extends no longer above the conveying plane of the conveyor belts 1 and 2. In this case, the free transfer of the coils 15 from the conveyor belt 1 to the conveyor belt 2 is then made possible.

The utilization of the coil change-over device in combination with the coil conveying plant has been described hitherto only for the case in which the coils are changed from a vertical axis position to a horizontal axis position. Obviously, it is also possible to use the changeover device for the reversed case of operation, i.e. changing the coils from a position with horizontal axis to one with vertical axis. Nor is its application limited to the cooperation with conveyor belts, for it is also possible to use it in combination with roller tables or small roller ways. Finally, coil change-over devices can also be used with more or less than four radial arms, although one with four radial arms 13 turned out to be especially advantageous because of the avoidance of dead travel periods.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, I have explained the principle and operation of my invention and have illustrated and described what I consider to represent the best embodiment thereof. However, I desire to have it understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for changing workpieces, such as wire or strip coils from an upright position to a horizontal position or inversely while they are being conveyed by a feeder to a delivery device, said feeder and delivery device includes endless conveying belts, the upper surfaces of which move in the same direction, four radial arms arranged in degree-spaced relation to one another, said feeder and delivery device handling the workpieces in a longitudinal direction, a common rotating body to which the arms are secured, a shaft carrying the rotating body, the ends of said conveying belts adjacent to said rotating body, including deflector wheels which are freely rotatably mounted on said shaft, said arms being so constructed and arranged that on rotation of the body in one direction the arms can be first selectively placed parallely to the conveying plane of the feeder to remove a workpiece therefrom, and then place in a vertical position in relation to the workpiece receiving plane of the delivery device to deposit a workpiece rotated 90 degrees thereon.

2. Apparatus, as set forth in claim 1, wherein each one of the radial arms comprises at least two cheeks arranged next to and at a distance from one another, and the end of the conveyor belts is located laterally outside the cheeks, whereas the end of the other conveyor belt is in the zone between these cheeks.

3. Apparatus, as set forth in claim 2, wherein each one of the checks is formed by a sheet-metal plate having a greater width in proportion to its thickness and at its free end it is tapered inwardly in relation to the direction of rotation of the rotating body.

References (fitted by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,943,530 l/34 Hoeffleur 198103 2,565,779 8/51 Muddiman 198103 2,790,533 4/57 Osgood 198-103 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,014,904 8/57 Germany.

SAMUEL F. COLEMAN, Primary Examiner.

WILLIAM B. LA BORDE, Examiner. 

1. APPARATUS FOR CHANGING WORKPIECES, SUCH AS WIRE OR STRIP COILS FROM AN UPRIGHT POSITION TO A HORIZONTAL POSITION OR INVERSELY WHILE THEY ARE BEING CONVEYED BY A FEEDER TO A DELIVERY DEVICE, SAID FEEDER AND DELIVERY DEVICE INCLUDES ENDLESS CONVEYING BELTS, THE UPPER SURFACES OF WHICH MOVE IN THE SAME DIRECTION, FOUR RADIAL ARMS ARRANGED IN 90 DEGREE-SPACED RELATION TO ONE ANOTHER, SAID FEEDER AND DELIVERY DEVICE HANDLING THE WORKPIECES IN A LONGITUDINAL DIRECTION, A COMMON ROTATING BODY TO WHICH THE ARMS ARE SECURED, A SHAFT CARRYING THE ROTATING BODY, THE ENDS OF SAID CONVEYING BELTS ADJACENT TO SAID ROTATING BODY, INCLUDING DEFLECTOR WHEELS WHICH ARE FREELY ROTATABLY MOUNTED ON SAID SHAFT, SAID ARMS BEING SO CONSTRUCTED AND ARRANGED THAT ON ROTATION OF THE BODY IN ONE DIRECTION THE ARMS CAN BE FIRST SELECTIVELY PLACED PARALLELY TO THE CONVEYING PLANE OF THE FEEDER TO REMOVE A WORKPIECE THEREFROM, AND THEN PLACE IN A VERTICAL POSI- 